More than 16,000 people have fled their homes across Sudan in the past week as violence spirals further out of control.
The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported the surge of displacement on Wednesday, highlighting the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis.
Clashes between General Abdel Fattah al Burhan-led army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), locked in war since April 2023, have intensified in western and southern regions.
Nearly 11,000 residents of Al Quoz locality in South Kordofan fled between Thursday and Saturday amid escalating insecurity, the IOM said.
Al Quoz sits just south of army-held El-Obeid, a crucial crossroads linking Khartoum to the embattled Darfur region, now largely under RSF control.
In northern Darfur’s gateway borderlands with Libya and Egypt, another 4,278 people were displaced between June 15 and 17 after fierce fighting.
The RSF captured the strategic Al-Muthallath border zone on Saturday, forcing an army retreat and tightening its hold on key supply routes.
Stretching 700 kilometres through harsh desert terrain, these routes supply fuel, weapons and troops to North Darfur’s last army stronghold, El-Fasher.
El-Fasher has endured a year-long RSF siege, with relentless attacks on the town and surrounding famine-stricken displacement camps.
Between June 10 and 11, around 1,000 people fled from El-Fasher and Abu Shouk camp, adding to the mounting exodus.
Sudan now faces the world’s largest displacement crisis, with over 10 million uprooted internally and 4 million more driven across borders.
